we begin with a new month and fresh test for president obama to see how good is good enough for healthcare.gov. today the obama administration is claiming success in getting the website to work smoothly for the vast majority of users. a passing grade for its own self-set december 1st ted line. the latest progress report says the site is working more than 90% of the time, able to handle at least 800,000 users a day. in fact, the white house says 375,000 people visited the site before noon today. and while the official numbers aren't in yet, nbc news confirms that about 100,000 people were able to select plans on the federal exchange in november. up some 27,000 -- up from some 27,000 in october. but the white house says it still has more work to do. >> the president believes that the site has been significantly improved. but the work is not done. and it will continue. >> and right now, that rehabilitation effort extends well beyond the website to the president's political support. and his wider second term

agenda. a broad-based approach evidenced by events over the weekend. on friday, the president and first lady met with activists engaged in a hunger strike on the national mall in pursuit of comprehensive immigration reform. a day later, it was a nod to the economy. the president promoting small business saturday by gift shopping at a local washington bookstore with the first daughters. and maybe it's the holiday season, but in an interview with abc's barbara walters on friday night, the president was downright optimistic, despite the fact -- despite facing the grinch-like poll numbers of his presidency. saying, quote, the good thing when you're down is usually you've got nowhere to go but up. let's get right to our panel here in new york, msnbc political analyst, jonathan alder, and in washington, msnbc analyst and former rnc chairman, michael steele. and who is never grinchly, michael steele. >> no, never. >> in the spirit of the holiday season, i would like you to tell us, as we're 11 or 12 days before the next recess, what have the republican members of

congress, other than throwing a lot of shade at healthcare.gov, what have they fliaccomplished 2013? >> not a lot. that's obvious. this congress has done very, very little. there are eight working days left in its year. and, you know, at the end of the day, they're going to have to look back and go to their constituencies and account for that in some manner, i'm sure, going into next cycle. yes, there's been a lot of noise around obama care. and its launch in october. and the failures that float from that. but as you know, joy, i've said from the very beginning of this year that, you know, the party has an opportunity to put some real -- substantive policy on the table to differentiate itself not just rhetorically from this administration, but, you know, and politically, but also in terms of what it hopes to accomplish in something -- with something like obama care. and i think that that opportunity is still there. the question he is, do they take

advantage of it going into a new year, where you're going to have on top of, you know, the watch, the death watch by republicans and the hopeful watch by democrats, you know, in the launch of obama care, the budget issues, sequester and all these things begin to take a new shape, beginning in just a few short weeks. >> and, you know, jonathan, a lot of times presidencies are pronounced dead over and over again by the media, every wrong turn -- it's the end of the presidency. so, you know, sort of give us perspective. put the obama administration in perspective one year into his first term. how -- just how bad or how well -- how is he doing? >> he had a bad 2013, even if things recover in december. but as you said, the story of presidencies is a cycle of, you know, political fortunes. >> boom and bust. >> you're down, then you're up. you're down and then you're up. and the only thing that really matters is if you're in a down part of the cycle right before

an election. so barack obama doesn't have to face the voters anymore. so a lot of this talk about where he stands in the polls is only relevant if it actually leads to defections among democrats. the republicans already oppose him. if his low poll numbers cause democrats to head for the hills, that's when we should start saying it's really significant. so far, that hasn't happened. so the consequences of his low poll numbers are not yet serious. that doesn't mean they might not get serious in the new year if they can't get their act together on the website. if they do get their act together and these patches work, we don't know the antibiotics answer to that question yet, despite the cheerleading from the white house. if it does get better at the beginning part of the new year, he has every opportunity to have a much more successful 2014. and i think what we're starting to see now on this question of the minimum wage, which affects a lot more than kids, the assumption was it used to just

be for teenagers. now it's affecting like 40% of minimum wage workers who are over 25 years old. this means that there are a whole lot of voters who have not voted in midterm elections. who if 2014 can be turned into do you deserve a raise election, then maybe they come out to the polls. doesn't necessarily mean the democrats get the house back. but they can hold the senate and make some advances that would make legislative accomplishment easier for this president. >> that's a really good point, michael, that jonathan makes. because i think that you can get the sense that the entire be all and end all of the next election will be whether healthcare.gov works swimmingly. but there are a whole lot of other issues out there that do pose some peril for republicans. minimum wage being one that jonathan just mentioned. and the other one being foot stamps. there was some traction going into last week of republicans facing some problems about wanting to slash food stamps right before the holidays. and then, of course, there is that budget fight where

republicans face falling into the same trap again of threatening to shut down the government. could issues like that wind up turning the tide really against republicans if they don't get on the right side of those issues as far as the american people are concerned? >> part is deciding what the right side is, okay. so that is a substantive argument for the republicans to dissect and understand before they engage -- >> what is the right side of the issue as far as minimum wage? >> well, that, you know -- there is a balancing act between -- and a truth-seeking between what the employer says they can and cannot do with the cost of minimum wage, and what you, i and the federal government says they can and cannot do with the cost and impact of a minimum wage increase. so that's one piece of this. you cannot discount how an employer -- interprets those types of actions by the federal government or state government when it comes to their bottom line. so that's -- that's a piece to understand. but, you know, i'll say on top of the issues you laid on us,

joy, you also have immigration, the president this week, as you just noted in the beginning of this piece, was out on the mall talking to people who are protesting against a lack of immigration policy. you have the civil rights agenda that's coming into fruition. you've got the supreme court now taking up an aspect of obama care, but also that touches on first amendment rights. so a whole lot of pieces of this puzzle that are going to -- i think can be problematic for both parties. but certainly for the republican party if they don't understand how to message themselves and put in place, i think, substantive policies that begin to address some of these issues. >> and you know, john, it's interesting. you get the sense that republicans do sort of see that. eric cantor this week talking about the fact that the gop needs to be able to answer a basic question, how do we address the fundamental problems that people have. with all of that menu of issues you heard michael steele mention, do republicans now run the risk of hubris, thinking obama care means we can go whole hog. we don't have to worry about really appearing uncompassionate

when a lot of americans are changing their minds about things like minimum wage or food stamps or i might be one of those have nots and it might be important to have some of these policies. and guess what, republicans are against them all. >> the trap they're in, in primaries, they need to be real conservative and even heartless. i was talking to a tea party republican not long ago who said that in his conservative district in texas, they call unemployment insurance fun employment insurance. it's just a way for people to, you know, be living off the federal government. no compassion at all. so they don't want to get primaried and lose those primaries. but if they get too far out on the uncompassionate side, some of them in some swing districts, and there are not that many, could have real trouble in november. so what they're betting on is they have another 80 million voter election the way we did in 2010, instead of 125 voter

election the way we did in 2012. it's some of those missing voters, if they go you know what, i've had with with these republicans. i'm going to vote in the mid terms out of my own self interest, whether it's immigration, minimum wage, what have you. they really could have a problem. they've got to develop a positive agenda for themselves. the same time, the democrats will have a problem if they can't figure out how to nationalize 2014. in the past, they've run for cover in mid terms. >> right. >> every man and woman for himself or herself. >> they don't seem to be doing that now, though. >> national referendum on these issues. if they do, they have an outside chance of getting the house back. >> okay. well thank you so much, jonathan altar. and michael steele. we appreciate both of you. >> thanks. and we are waiting for -- we are awaiting a press conference with the ntsb on the deadly metro north train derailment the, which is beginning right now. let's take a listen to what they are saying. >> this is preliminary information from the event

recorders shows that the train was traveling at approximately 82 miles per hour as it went into a 30-mile-an-hour curve. that speed again was 82 miles per hour. at the entrance to a 30-mile-an-hour curve. approximately six seconds before the rear engine of the train came to a stop, the throttle was reduced to idle. approximately five seconds before the rear engine came to a stop, the brake pressure dropped from 120 psi to 0, resulting in full application of the brakes. at this point oh in the investigation, we don't know what the initiating event was for either the throttle going to idle or the brake pressure dropping to zero. our investigators will be carefully reviewing all the data to determine the functioning of the brakes throughout the trip and to determine why the throttle went to zero and brake pressure went to zero. as you may know, this train made

nine stops prior to derailing. we need to understand how the brake system was working throughout that part of the trip. at this point, we are not aware of of any problems or anomalies with the brakes. also today, we began interviewing the engineer. that interview will be continued over the next couple days. we have interviews in process with the other two, three -- the other three crew members. investigators from the track group have completed the assessment of the track, have conducted a detailed engineering survey of the site. earlier this afternoon, we released the track back to metro. metro north. investigators completed some of the signal testing. the rest of the signals testing will have to be accomplished tonight, late at night, when the traffic is minimal on the tracks.

earlier this afternoon, mta provided us with a copy of a surveillance video from a nearby bridge. that surveillance video was of low quality. we have sent it back to washington, d.c. to our laboratories to see if it can be enhanced. the engineer's cell phone has been recovered. as is part of our routine process. and the forensic evaluation of that cell phone will be provided to the ntsb. finally, all seven cars and the locomotive have been rerailed and our team has conducted the preliminary assessment of five of those cars and the locomotive. the two remaining cars are in the process of being inspected at this point. as soon as that's completed, all of the cars and the locomotive will be moved to a secure facility for further examination and evaluation in the next few days.

our investigators will continue their on-scene work tomorrow, including interviews, inspections and documentation gathering. with that, i would be willing to take a few questions. >> just to be clear, was this human error, or was this faulty braking system that led to this derailment? >> so the question is, was this human error or faulty equipment? the answer is at this point in time, we can't tell. at this point in time, the data is preliminary, but we can say here's what happened. we know speeds and positions and power settings and brake application -- we don't know whether the brakes went to zero pressure because of a valve change or because of the train break-up. that will be determined, of course, as the investigation continues. >> what does it tell you so far? when you at the us that the throttle was released to idle at six seconds. at five seconds, the brake

pressure dropped to zero. in layman's terms, what does that tell us? what does that tell you? >> that says six seconds before the engine came to a stop, and it -- but when it came to a stop, it had derailed. it had -- you know, laid over partly on its side. six seconds to coming to a stop, the throttle had been at a -- at a -- at some power setting. so it was only six seconds before everything came to a stop that the throttle went to idle. >> so this was late in the game. >> very late in the game. >> and at 82 miles per hour, that train was going too fast, even for the zone leading up to that curve. >> the zone leading up to the curve was a 70-mile-an-hour zone. and, yes, there was -- in excess of that speed. >> so i guess the question is, why then was the train going so fast? >> that's the question we need to answer. at this point, this is

preliminary data, raw data off the event recorders. so it tells us what happened. it doesn't tell us why it happened. >> can you tell us what the locomotive engineer has told you so far? >> i can't do that. the interviews have started. but we don't release any of the interview records until all of the interviews have been conducted. >> how many seconds going into that curve should the throttle have been pulled? does the black box reveal the time line before? the seconds before? >> the black box provides quite a bit of data. we will be looking at that data to understand how the train was being managed, how it was accelerating coming up into that curve. but at this point in time, again, this is very early data. basically raw data right off the recorders. >> six seconds before that train stops, the engine stops after it skids. do you know approximately where that location is six seconds before it stops? where is the locomotive? >> the locomotive, and you have

probably seen the pictures as much as i have, was basically just nearly inside the turn. so it was not very far through the turn. >> how far would it have traveled in six seconds at that speed? >> i guess what i'm asking is, does the throttle come off about the place where it comes off the rails? locomotive. >> that would be close together. >> excuse me? >> that would be close together. but i don't -- without analyzing it, it's hard to say exactly what that sequence was. >> we'll take one more question. >> are there toxicology tests done on the driver? >> there were drug and alcohol testing. that has been completed. but the results have not been made available to us yet. >> what has he said? >> yes, i -- >> can you just explain what the brake pressure going to zero means for the average reader? >> brake pressure. >> and the time of that again, please.

>> the brake pressure went to zero five seconds prior to the stop -- to the complete stop of the locomotive. the brakes are held off by pressure. so at 120 psi, the brakes are held off. when the pressure diminishes, particularly when it goes to zero, full braking application happens. >> do you think the application occurred before the train derailed or after the train derailed? >> don't know that at this point. >> so from the mechanics of this, could you explain to us how it works with the engines at the back and the engineer might be at a -- i guess at the front of the train? how does he operate the train? >> okay. last question. how does he operate the train, in a pusher configuration. the engineer is in a cab car up front. >> okay. and is there -- are there lines that run back, or how does it work. >> there's controls that run back to the locomotive. because all the motive power is at the locomotive. thank you. >> okay.

let me just say a couple words here. and then senator blumenthal. first, it is very good that the ntsb is in full charge. they are smart, they are competent and they are independent. and i have worked with them on, unfortunately, numerous tragedies here in new york, both on the ground and in the air. and they come up with thorough data. they give it to you as quickly as they can. but they don't rush. they want to make sure everything is completely squared. so when they tell you it's going at 82 miles per hour, it's pretty safe bet that's exactly what happened. they are -- it was -- the ntsb was set up by congress to be independent and to come in sort of on top, if you will, or swoop in and give a complete independent investigation. so no one who has biases will be involved. and i have complete -- and i

know senator blumenthal does, complete faith in this investigation. when they -- oftentimes, when they finish their investigation, congress takes their findings and puts them into law. that's what happened with the crash in the buffalo airplane. we now have laws that are -- because the ntsb found there was so much pilot fatigue. we were briefed and i've been on the phone with not only the folks here, but ms. hersman. and let me just say a couple of things. first, when i heard about the speed, i gulped. it sort of takes your breath away. for a train to be going 82 miles per hour around that curve is just a frightening thought. and the fact that it was going at 82 miles per hour even in the 70-mile-an-hour zones, before the curve started, is -- raises so many questions. and is scary. second point i would say is

this. they have informed us that it looks pretty certain that the tracks were okay. they're still undergoing signalling, but preliminarily, looking at the signals, they were okay. so two choices. one would be human error on behalf of the engineer. the other would be mechanical error on the locomotive. and they will look thoroughly into that over the next few days and come up with a good answer. but it's premature to blame anyone or anything right now. final thing, i guess, i would say is this. rail safety is darn good in america, overall. there haven't been many deaths. things are safer today than they were even five years ago. >> that was the national transportation safety board press conference on the deadly metro north train derailment. and among the details we have

learned, the train was traveling at 82 miles per hour when it derailed at a curve that normally is taken at 30 miles per hour. let's get right to nbc's kristen dahlgren, live at the scene of yesterday's accident. and kristen, senator chuck schumer, who was just speaking at the end of the conference said when he heard about the speed of the train, he gulped. is that the headline out of this press conference? >> reporter: yeah, it really is. and what senator schumer just said is from preliminary reports. it doesn't look like there was anything wrong with the tracks or the signal. so he said it really comes down to either a problem with the locomotive or an issue with the operator. and so, yeah, you look at that train going 82 miles per hour, even in the 70-mile-an-hour zone that comes before this curve and then taking that curve at 82 miles per hour. another headline out of it, six seconds before the train came to the stop, the throttle was released to zero. and then five seconds before it came to a stop, the brakes released to zero. so they're looking into exactly

what happened at that point. they don't know the initiating event that caused the throttle and the brakes to drop to zero at that point. they're also looking at braking throughout this trip. remember, this is a train that started in poughkeepsie, on its way to manhattan. it made nine stops. so clearly the brakes were functioning properly. so they're continuing to look. they will continue to look at the track here and the signalling into the overnight hours. they also have now talked to the engineer, and they say they will continue to talk to the engineer perhaps tomorrow. they have some surveillance video that they'll be looking at, as well, from a bridge nearby. they said the quality wasn't that good. they have sent that off to d.c. to see if they can enhance it. so they're hoping to get some more clues from that. they also have recovered the engineer's cell phone, that's standard procedure. and they'll be analyzing that to see if i any calls were made, texts sent in those critical moments. so really at this point, they're gathering all that information. they say they are beginning to

know what happened. they just need to figure out the why. it's an investigation that could still take some time, but at least they have the beginning pieces, joy. >> and we can hear the commute still going on, even right now. and we don't want to lose sight of the fact, there were four people who lost their lives in this train derailment. 59-year-old james ferrari of montrose, new york. 35-year-old ahn kisook from queens. don smith from new york. and 58-year-old jim lovell, a member of our nbc news family. he worked as an audio technician for the "today" show. and there are also 60 people injured. what do we know about the injured? >> reporter: yeah, we did hear from most of the hospitals where those injured were taken to, and we know at least 27 have been treated. and released. there are still at least three in critical condition tonight. and others still admitted in the hospital. so still a lot of families waiting to see how this is going to play out.

there were some pretty severe injuries. and then, of course, those four dead. and our hearts go out to al of those families, as well. >> absolutely. nbc news kristen dahlgren, thank you. coming up, we return our focus to politics, as the calendar page turns and the president and white house hope to seize the new day. ready to run your lines? okay, who helps you focus on your recovery? yo, yo, yo. aflac. wow. [ under his breath ] that was horrible. pays you cash when you're sick or hurt? [ japanese accent ] aflac. love it. [ under his breath ] hate it. helps you focus on getting back to normal? [ as a southern belle ] aflac. [ as a cowboy ] aflac. [ sassily ] aflac. uh huh. [ under his breath ] i am so fired. you're on in 5, duck. [ male announcer ] when you're sick or hurt, aflac pays you cash. find out more at aflac.com.

like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air.

[ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪

11 days. that's all the time that's left for republicans and democrats in the house to come together on a budget deal. but there's hope. nbc's first read reports that, quote, there's some optimism about reaching a very small deal. and, yes, that's what counts for optimism these days.

a very small deal. and joining us now, democratic congressman, peter welch of vermont. good day to you, sir. a very small deal, congressman. is that what we have to look forward to before the holidays? >> well, unfortunately, it probably is. and let's hope we get it. i mean, it's the congress of low expectations. and we're setting the bar so low that it doesn't keep -- give people a lot to look forward to. bottom line, low expectations are to avoid a default and avoid a shutdown. and both sides have learned that that's not good for either side. so i think we will manage to get, quote, a deal. but i'm not going to translate into progress. >> well, okay, the low expectations. in that vein, what are democrats -- where are you drawing the line in the sand in terms of avoiding another shutdown? what is your line in the sand? social security, food stamp cuts? what is the line? >> it isn't a line. really, we all have to look to do, get rid of the sequester. that is just a flat earth approach to budgeting.

across the board cuts makes it very difficult -- even if you're in favor of some cuts. i think we should have lower pentagon spending, but we shouldn't do it across the board. in fact, i think we've got to get off of this confrontational approach where we recognize that we actually should get back to congress passing budgets, where there's some flexibility in the programs and where the legislators take some responsibility for any budget cuts they want to make and any increases they propose. >> but congressman, that sounds so logical and it sounds so rational. but i just wonder sometimes about your colleagues across the aisle. and whether or not they feel the same way. whether or not they feel that they are there to legislate and get a deal done whether are or whether as john boehner said, they're there to repeal things. >> that's what he said they're here to do and that's what it's been. it's been a fight for failure, for instance. we've got problems on health care, but no alternative proposed. and on the budget, the bottom line has not been a more rational budget making decisions that we should say fund the national institute of health where we all support it.

it's been this across the board focus on getting the top line down lower at whatever cost. so, in fact, there's got to be, i think, the american people weighing in to say enough. but we do have a problem. because there's a big difference. those folks have -- it's their essential goal squeezing down government spending but not doing it in a necessarily rational way. >> you talk about the american people saying enough. and one of the things that seems to be gaining in popularity with a plurality of the american people is raising the minimum wage. your state, vermont, has a higher minimum wage than the average. is that something you can see gain traction across the aisle? >> i hope so. folks in fast service working 40 hours a week, getting a second job and in poverty. there are folks who need food stamps, even though they're working full time. and the minimum wage has been static for several years at the federal level. the president is now supporting it, coming up to over $10. and the bottom line here, if people work hard, why shouldn't

they be able to pay their bills. and then if they're not getting fair wages, it simply means the taxpayer has to support hard-working people. so i would hope you could come together and raise the minimum wage. and that is still well below what is a liveable wage. >> it all sounds so rational and logical. i just hope your colleagues on the other side of the aisle are listening to you. thank you, sir. >> thank you. still ahead, the day's top lines, doom's day preppers, take notice. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ]

[ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance

of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions, or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. stay with us. dr. strangegov stars in an apocalypse now edition of top lines. ♪ ♪

-wow! -that feels wow! [ male announcer ] oral-b deep sweep, featuring three cleaning zones that remove up to 100% more plaque than a regular manual brush. guaranteed "wow" from oral-b. #1 dentist-recommended toothbrush brand worldwide. this is the creamy chicken corn chowder. i mean, look at it. so indulgent. did i tell you i am on the... [ both ] chicken pot pie diet! me too! [ male announcer ] so indulgent, you'll never believe they're light. 100-calorie progresso light soups.

you can fill that box and pay one flat rate. how naughty was he? oh boy... [ male announcer ] fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex.

from black friday to doom's day, here are today's top lines. keep calm and go shopping. are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago? >> keep calm and go shopping! >> yeah! >> i don't think so. i think terror is up worldwide. >> bargain hunters came in waves. >> hey, now! >> there are new bombs, very big bombs. >> people like you are crazy. >> there are bombs that go through magnet to himters. >> that is not the answer i expected. >> there is huge ma levy veterans out there. >> i expected to hear we're safer. >> real concern that edward snowden may have put together a doom's day cache. a doom's day cache of top-secret

documents much more damaging than anything released so far. >> this very narcissistic young man. >> this is catastrophic. >> about the role of our intelligence community. >> someone as clever as snowden. >> we've got to shake ourselves out of this pretty soon. >> this has been a tough patch. >> and understand that our intelligence services are not the bad guys. >> it's not just health care. >> white house officials have announced, they have met their deadline. >> healthcare.gov is now stable. 90% of the time. >> that would be a good day for them. >> and has achieved its goals, all be it two months late. >> have they made progress? yes. >> if they can get off the website and -- and it's true, somebody said on chuck todd's show. >> you never get a second chance to make a first impression. >> now we can judge obama care the way we should judge obama care. >> it's got to be an unfolding disaster for the president. >> can it sign up a lot of people who need health insurance. >> what a lot of bull. i mean, after all.

>> and let's get right to our panel. joining us now, dana mill bank of the washington post and ryan grim of the washington post. i'll start with you, ryan. we had michael haden, former cia director, raised eyebrows this weekend when he said that edward snowden has this doom's day cache of secret intelligence he's waiting to drop on the united states. do you have any reporting on what is in said doom's day cache and should we be worried about it? >> i don't have any personal reporting. i have tried to reach out to snowden, have not succeeded in that. but, you know, from the reporting that's out there, you know, people say he does have such a cache that, you know, can be accessed if anything happens to him. you know, he's an extremely intelligent guy, and he thought through what he was doing, you know, fairly meticulously. so it stands to reason he would have done something like this. it's not that difficult to think of this. and once you've thought of it and once you have the skills he

does, not that hard to pull off. >> ryan, does it concern you at all that somewhere out there in private hands is all of this classified u.s. intelligence that mr. snowden or the people that glen greenwald is going to be working with, any time they want, they have in their own private ownership this national security information? they can do with what they want. >> does it concern me? i hope that the people whose hands it's in, you know -- behave responsibly. >> isn't that like the government? isn't that what we hope the nsa -- sounds exactly the same thing, but they're private, not the government. >> now you know, the nsa could have not given a contractor access to all of its international secrets. and maybe we wouldn't be in this situation. so, you know, the fact that nobody has been, you know, fired at the top of the nsa -- i completely agree with you. it is scandalous that the nsa can't protect its own secrets from its contractors. not even its own public employees. >> dana, just moving a little bit -- staying on the situation a little bit, but on a slightly different angle, the house and

senate committees on intelligence, mike rogers, dianne feinstein, we saw them talking about this doom's day scenar scenario, where mr. snowden is partly to blame for making things much worse in our national security situation. take a listen. >> so you think about what's happened with the recent disclosures. we now have three the al-qaeda affiliate groups have changed the way they communicate. means it's less likely we're going to be able to detect something prior to an event that goes operational, meaning that they have already started the final planning stages to blow something up or shoot someone. >> a will i bit of an off oh key message. very interesting, right before the holidays, a lot of encouragement by public officials to get out and shop and get out into the malls and then this really sort of scary message coming out of our intelligence communities. what gives, dana? >> right. you almost feel like we're back to those color-coded days and the high threat alerts. but the same thing has been going on beyond the scenes has been going on all along. i think there has been less of an -- an interest among public officials in this

administration, in whipping up the public into a frenzy. that doesn't mean the threats have gone away somewhere. and et cetera it's of course the congressman's job, being in the position he's in to -- to draw attention to vulnerabilities. he wants to be beating the drums. i think it was more interesting that dianne feinstein was echoing those very things. she is obviously in a more credible position, being in the majority party. so these things cannot be dismissed. but i have -- i have ventured out of mycome to the studio tod i'm glad to see you did the same. >> thank you very much. yes, and i think we're perfectly safe. and ryan, going back over to healthcare.gov, because, of course, when republicans are not worrying about the national security situation or whatever else they're doing, they are shading healthcare.gov. but this week, that storyline kind of lost some traction. because it does appear that the

website is now functional. for republicans. do you see a shift now in terms of on capitol hill, away from the constant talk of repeal. now that you actually have a health care law that's being implemented, not just a website that has to get up and running? >> right. making fun of the website wasn't a particularly long-range strategy. because if you take a step back and say, okay, so, you know, you're saying that obama care is a failure because people can't sign up through the website. therefore, if they get the website fixed and people can sign up, then using your own metric, then obama care is a success. so i think they kind of got themselves kind of stuck in a cul-de-sac there, and, you know, if it is the case that people actually can sign up, then they're going to have to find, you know, something else that's -- that's wrong with obama care, and, you know, move it another step. and that's going to be -- that's going to be more difficult after they have trained all their fire on the website. >> you know, dana, you know when i know things are going wrong

for the republicans? when they trot out bill crystal. when he's your front guy, that's a sign of problems. you had bill crystal out touting there is this other alternative, that paul ryan has this awesome version of health care reform that's even better. do you have any idea what that is and when we might be able to see its website? >> well, it's so secret that i can't tell you, joy. but i believe it will be sometime in the next several decades we may hear something from him. because i don't think -- i think they're moving away from offering any sort of a plan. speaker boehner said they hadn't settled on any sort of a plan whatsoever. you have people like jack kingston running for the senate in georgia now saying let's stop waiting around for the law to fall apart. let's make some suggestions, some improvements. and i think you have seen the end of the outright repeal movement. at least in the mainstream. and they're now saying, all right, let's see if we can pick apart certain pieces of this and get it more towards our liking.

which, of course, they have been doing the last three years, we would have much more of a consensus on health care in the first place. >> nobody tell ted cruz. thank you so much to dana mill bank and ryan grim. the president marks world aids day. more straight ahead of the but first, cybermonday today. drone drive delivery's tomorrow? you are now entering the land of the amazon. ♪ oh yes mr. postman ♪ mr. postman look and see

♪ whoa yeah hoo-hoo. hoo-hoo...hoo-hoo. hoo-hoo hoo. sir... i'll get it together i promise... heeheehee. jimmy: ronny, how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico? ronny:i'd say happier than the pillsbury doughboy on his way to a baking convention. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. [ babies crying ] surprise --

your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

so i can't afford to have germy surfaces. but after one day's use, dishcloths can redeposit millions of germs. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel. look! a fresh sheet of bounty duratowel leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth, as this black light reveals. it's durable, cloth-like

and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to bounty duratowel. the durable, cloth-like picker-upper. coming up, same-sex marriage in the aloha state. a primer in advanced social studies, when we come back. ♪ ooh ooh somewhere over the rainbow ♪ ♪ way up high p! yeah... [ male announcer ] campbell's homestyle soup with farm grown veggies. just like yours. huh. [ male announcer ] and roasted white meat chicken. just like yours. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show. [ male announcer ] try campbell's homestyle soup.

[ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of exacting precision and some of the best offers of the year [ ding! ] at the lexus december to remember sales event.

this is the pursuit of perfection.

president obama pledged billions more in aids research, pointing out that the lives this research has saved to date. >> the disease that was once a death sentence now comes with a good chance of a healthy and productive life. >> and joining us now to get me back on track, jonathan capehart, opinion writer for the

washington post and msnbc contributor and aisha moody mills, for the center for american progress. it's monday, good news. hawaii, same-sex marriage. >> mahalo. >> this is a good thing. are we going to start seeing this happen at the state level, state-by-state spread, tamping down any conservative opposition to the idea? because it ending marriage, i don't think. >> what do you mean, starting? hawaii is, what, state number 15 or 16. i get it mixed up, because there was illinois and then all these other states. so what we're seeing here is the country -- states catching up to where the country is. remember, there were people who thought when hawaii started this, the whole gay marriage thing rolling, when was that, '96, '97, no one thought that it would happen. we got the defensive -- so-called defense of marriage act to try to stop it from happening. and now look, it's happening. some states don't want it to, but it's happening. >> it's happening. and aisha, world aids day was sunday and very important we

look at this day every year and take stock of where we are. one of the things that is also good news, you have seen a decline in the bigotry you saw when we first heard about acquired immune deficiency syndrome in the ' 0s. that is good news, right? >> that is good news. but also a lot of people left behind. i wrote a report about this last year, talking about the structural barriers that still perpetuate high rates of disease within communities of color, lgbt community, as well. so as we think about world aids day, we need to think about what we should be doing domestically here at home to make sure these folks who are living at the intersection of marginalized populations are getting the health care services they need. >> and, you know, jonathan, obviously, of course, on the down side, you have a lot of states refusing the medicaid expansion and how that ties into the discussion of world aids day. you have people suffering from hiv more often than not, poorer or lower income. the very people who need life-saving drugs can't afford them, could use the medicaid expansion. are we going to start to see the

aids activist community expand medicaid? >> that is actually a very good question and would be very smart for the aids activists, aids community, to push in that direction. look, the idea that you have governors across the country who are saying no to giving their citizens access to health insurance. they're saying no. they're not accepting any help from the federal government to make it possible for people to get -- to get medicaid. it's unconscionable. and the only way i think -- for governors who hear the message is if people do what, say, the dreamers are doing on the mal in washington. hunger strikes, civil disobedience to make it clear, hey, we have paid into this system. now it's time for us to get something back. >> doesn't sound like it's politically smart either. here we are, jonathan capehart, aisha moody mills. thanks to both of you. we'll be right back.

♪ no matter what city you're playing tomorrow. [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ 6-symptom♪ old & flu relief. ♪ i know they say you can't go home again ♪ ♪ ♪ i just had to come back one last time ♪ ♪ ♪ you leave home, you move on [ squeals ] ♪ and you do the best you can ♪ i got lost in this old world ♪ ♪ and forgot who i am

like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air.

medicare open enrollment. allergyof year again.24 hours. time to compare plans and costs. you don't have to make changes. but it never hurts to see if you can find better coverage, save money, or both. and check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law. open enrollment ends december 7th. so now's the time. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare so i deserve a small business credit card with amazing rewards. with the spark cash card from capital one, i get 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. i break my back around here. finally someone's recognizing me with unlimited rewards! meetings start at 11, cindy. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? i need your timesheets, larry!

thanks so much for watching. coming up right now, "the ed show," with ed schultz. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show," live from morning. let's get to work. live from new york. ♪ let's fast forward to the state of union and months after that. health care working better, a lot of people signing up, economy continuing to strengthen, hopefully no washington shutdowns. ♪ >> first impression here was terrible. >> i think there's going to be a lot of negative surprises as to what they're able to enroll in. >> give my creation life! >> i think it's going to be an unfolding disaster for the president. ♪ >> so i still think the foundations of this plan have some of the same kinds of problems that the rollout has had.